A Weeping Blossom
by Hooty-McBoon
Summary: What if Yamato hadn’t saved Sakura from Sasuke. So this is going to be AU and some of the characters are OOC, but it adds to the tension. Sakura gets angry. Rated for violence.


This is an AU fic going back to Shippuuden Episode 51/52 in the Anime, what if Yamato hadn't saved Sakura from Sasuke. So this is going to be AU and some of the characters are OOC, but it adds to the tension.

Disclaimer: Sadly Naruto isn't mine, -sigh-.

**A Weeping Blossom**

'_It may take a while but I promise, I won't get in the way next time.'_ Sakura clenched her fist as she remembered the promise that she had made to Naruto, she glanced at Captain Yamato and channelled her chakra into her right fist, if only she could get one punch in she could easily knock him out. Before she knew what she was doing she found her feet bringing her closer to him as her fist drew back ready to punch; "I'll stop Sasuke-kun myself."

"SAKURA NO!" Captain Yamato's voice reached her when it was too late, she saw Sasuke turn to her, his Sharingan had been activated and he was pulling his katana form behind him, Yamato's feet were rooted to the spot and all he could do was watch as she ran towards him.

Sakura's mind was on one thing and that was bringing Sasuke back with them, it was too late when she saw his katana coming towards her, she tried to dodge but failed and felt it pierce her skin and continue on through her body, shock passed over his face as he watched her, she grabbed his arm and pulled it further towards her, the blade was in up to the hilt, he wanted to remove the blade, wanted to get away from her. Sakura's fist was still charged and she used one hand to hold the blade where it was, she noted the strange numbness that was spreading from where the katana had pierced her but decided she had more important things to do so she swung her other fist at Sasuke, she made direct contact and felt a searing pain shoot through her right side as the blade was ripped from her body, she had managed to clip the side of his face with her fist, he spat out some blood and shook his head as he attempted to remain conscious, Sasuke's head was swimming as he tried to form a coherent thought, surely that couldn't have been Haruno Sakura. The girl in question was bleeding, badly and he knew that if she wasn't healed soon it would be too late. The truth was he had expected someone to step in and help her, images of their past, when it had been him protecting her flashed in front of his eyes and he took a step towards her, Sakura's breathing was notably laboured but she maintained a hard gaze fixed on the Uchiha.

"Nande?" he asked watching as blood seeped from the wound.

She laughed bitterly and some of the blood that was rapidly filling her lungs dribbled out of her mouth; "Why not? We've come all this way Sasuke-kun, trained so hard to bring you home and perhaps it would be fitting if I died right here." She paused sucking in a breath; "At your blade." A smile crossed her lips and Sasuke wondered if she were sane. He didn't try to respond to her he just watched, a part of him, the 12 year old part, wanted to help her, hold her and cry out for help, he glanced to his left and noticed that Naruto was sitting up, his nails looked like claws and when he looked up his blue eyes were now red; "No Naruto!" Sakura's shout surprised him, he watched as she tried to get up again.

"We can't let the Kyuubi take control." Yamato told Sakura who was staggering towards Naruto.

Sasuke couldn't move, his blood had frozen in his veins and his legs had turned to stone, his former teammates had changed beyond recognition, had his leaving caused it? Sakura had reached Naruto and the sound of Naruto's voice broke Sasuke's train of thought.

"Sakura-chan," it was only quite but the concern carried with her name spoke volumes; "heal yourself." He instructed, she blinked slowly as if the thought had not occurred to her, she the pitched forwards leaving Naruto to catch her. "SASUKE-TEME!" Naruto wasn't looking at him he lifted Sakura's hand to her chest, she was a deathly pale, luckily she was still conscious and forced the chakra into her hand, it began glowing green and Naruto guided it over the wounded area, Naruto's appearance had been shocked back to normal by the sight of Sakura, he now gazed at his 'best friend'; "You could have killed her." His voice was laced with venom as he made the accusation.

Sasuke did not look at Naruto his eyes remained on the prone form in Naruto's arms he opened his mouth to make an explanation; "I…" but Naruto was right he could have killed her, in fact she was very lucky to be alive. If she hadn't been a med-nin she would certainly have been dead. Sasuke took a step away from them; "Now maybe you will see why I left?" the question hung in the air; "You could've got hurt, and I couldn't have that."

Sakura coughed out a bitter laugh much like she had before; "And you don't think that the act of your leaving hurt us?" she pushed herself forwards and Sasuke marvelled at her strength, surely she needed a break, a lie down, but no she was still going; "We were fractured, me more than Naruto but still you left us and we've be training so very hard, become so much stronger so that we can bring you back."

Sasuke shook his head; "You're still…"

She cut him off; "Annoying, I know, but at least I'm consistent. What about you? You were Naruto's best friend and now you want to be our enemy? I know that you want power enough to kill Itachi but maybe leaving us wasn't the best way to achieve it." She paused catching her breath, she was still very weak and hadn't healed herself fully as her chakra was low; "Does it take one of us dying for you to come to your senses?" she asked and Sasuke's eyes narrowed, she wasn't dead, nor was Naruto; "'Cause it can be arranged." She pulled out a kunai placing it against her wrist; surely she had lost her mind.

"SAKURA!" Naruto's voice was louder than Sasuke had heard it before, and with good reason, she couldn't be threatening to kill herself, that wasn't Sakura, she had to be an impostor.

"You talked to me of being lonely, but you don't understand what it was like for us when you left us, there was a hole that only you could fill," her reference to Sai wasn't unmissed; "we only trained as hard as we did so that we could bring you home, don't you understand?!" her voice had slowly risen till she was shouting at him, the hand holding the kunai had slipped and was hanging by her side; "We're stronger, we got _power,_ probably not the kind that you wanted, but it's power non the less, but you couldn't see that, because you didn't want to." Sasuke took a step back, she was right, of course she was, but he couldn't go back with them now, Orochimaru would surely follow him and try and kill them, he couldn't have that.

"I'm sorry." The words sounded so alien that Sakura had stopped mid rant to make sure she had heard him correctly; "I can't," he paused before jumping back to the edge of the crater that he had created; "not yet." He said watching Sakura's reaction, she was on her knees using her remaining chakra to try and heal the wound that would more than likely leave a scar.

"Are you a coward? Is that it Sasuke?" she asked, the words stung and had she not already been injured he was almost certain that he would have lashed out at her. Insolent, it was a good word to describe Sakura's new persona, but it didn't speak of the magnitude of the difference between how she was when she was when she was 12 and how she is now.

"No Sakura, I'm not a coward." He had actually replied with more than a glare, and that alone was enough to shock Sakura into silence. Their eyes locked in a silent battle of the wills that Sasuke wasn't sure if he could win, the uncertainty he felt was a testament to the bonds that he hadn't really broken all those years ago. He was the one to look away first as he cast his eyes to the dusty ground beneath his feet, the silence that remained was heavy and it seeped inside all of them making them feel empty and alone, it was almost unbearable, almost. It was at that moment that Orochimaru decided to appear.

"Sasuke-kun isn't a coward," the serpent's voice was sickening and Sakura found herself gripping the ground because she knew that they had lost whatever chance they had of taking Sasuke with them; "he's more powerful than you could ever hope to be, even the Kyuubi." His eyes darted to Naruto; "How is the arm by the way?" his eyes shifted back to Sakura whose had moved instinctively to protect her left arm; "Does he know it's his fault?"

"Shut up!" Sakura shouted at him only to hear a cackle in response.

"I can see why you left them Sasuke-kun, they are weak, seems they are only able to hurt each other." Sasuke's eyes narrowed but he made no move to respond, he knew it was time to go. It seemed as though Team 7, the new Team 7 had accepted that as well as they had made no move to stop him from leaving.

"We won't stop searching Sasuke-kun." Sakura muttered under her breath as she watched as Sasuke and Orochimaru disappeared, she wasn't sure if it was her mind playing tricks but she was almost certain that she heard his voice whisper on the wind; 'I expect nothing less.' Sakura felt her heart soar, maybe the next time they found him he would be ready to come home. They would have to wait and see, and as Sakura had found that she was getting pretty good at waiting she resigned herself to the fact that eventually one day he would come home to them.

One day.

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A/N: So that was my first Naruto oneshot, what did you think? You like it? Review please. No flames thank you.


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